Cafe break-even calculator.
Enter your monthly fixed costs and your average cup economics. See how many cups per day you need to sell to break even — before you take home a cent.
Your cafe numbers
Defaults work for most small shops in the EU.
Cups per day to break even
How this calculator works (same formula nouz uses).
Break-even for a café is not "covering my coffee cost." It is covering everything — rent, wages, insurance, software — plus the cost of each cup you pour. The number of cups it takes to get there is your daily floor. Sell below it and you are losing money; sell above it and you are finally paying yourself.
The formula is Cups per day = (monthly fixed ÷ (net price per cup − cost per cup)) ÷ days open. The one trick is net price. Your board says €3.40, but VAT is baked in, so your real revenue per cup is what has to cover the shop. The gap between net price and cost per cup is your contribution margin — the only lever the whole calculation turns on.
A worked example
Using the defaults: €6,800 in monthly fixed costs, a cup priced at €3.40, a cost per cup of €0.90, open 26 days a month. First strip VAT: €3.40 ÷ 1.20 = €2.83 net price. Contribution per cup is 2.83 − 0.90 = €1.93. To cover €6,800 you need 6,800 ÷ 1.93 ≈ 3,517 cups a month, which is 3,517 ÷ 26 ≈ 135 cups a day — just to break even, before you take home a cent. Notice the leverage: shave €0.10 off cost per cup and the floor drops a little; add €0.10 to the price and it drops faster, because the whole increase lands in contribution.
What a healthy number looks like
The break-even count only matters next to what you actually sell. As a rough rule of thumb, you want your break-even sitting comfortably under real daily volume — if you need 135 cups and sell 170, that ~20% cushion is healthy; if you need 135 and sell 140, one slow week wipes you out. On the cost side, a common healthy band for a café is food and drink cost around 28–32% of net revenue and rent under roughly 10–12%. If your cost per cup implies a food cost well above that, fixing the recipe often beats chasing extra cups. And remember break-even is a floor, not a target — you still need a cushion above it to pay yourself, cover the slow days, and put something aside for the quarter's tax and equipment bills.
Common mistakes
- Using the menu price, not net. Forgetting VAT overstates contribution and makes break-even look easier than it is.
- Leaving wages out of fixed costs. A barista's salary is the biggest fixed line in most cafés — omit it and the number is fiction.
- Only cutting cost per cup. A €0.10 price rise usually moves the floor more than a €0.10 saving, yet owners fear it most.
- Counting closed days. Break-even is per operating day; using 30 instead of your real 26 flatters the daily target.
When to use it — and what's next
Run this before you sign a lease, hire, or reprice — it tells you the daily wall you have to clear before profit even starts. Then track whether you actually clear it: pull the numbers into the café daily P&L template, and cross-check the pieces with the daily profit calculator and the cash flow runway calculator.
Common questions
What does break-even actually mean for a cafe?
It is not just covering your coffee or food cost. Break-even covers everything: rent, wages, software, insurance, plus the cost of each cup you pour. The number of cups it takes to reach that point is your daily floor — below it you lose money, above it you are paying yourself.
How is the daily cups-to-break-even number calculated?
Cups per day equals monthly fixed costs divided by the contribution per cup (net price per cup minus cost per cup), then divided by the days you are open. With €6,800 fixed, €1.93 contribution, and 26 days, that is about 3,517 cups a month, or roughly 135 cups a day.
Why use net price per cup instead of the menu price?
Your board might say €3.40, but VAT is included in that till price and is owed back to the state. Dividing €3.40 by 1.20 gives a net price of €2.83, and that net figure is what actually has to cover your fixed costs. Using the menu price would overstate every cup.
What can I do if my break-even number looks too high?
Three levers move it: lower your fixed costs, raise your price, or lower your cost per cup. Owners usually obsess over the cost per cup and fear the price. But a small price rise lands entirely in contribution margin, so it often drops the daily floor faster than an equivalent cost saving.
With the default cafe numbers, how many cups a day is break-even?
With €6,800 monthly fixed costs, a €3.40 cup (net €2.83 after 20% VAT), a €0.90 cost per cup, and 26 days open, contribution is €1.93 per cup. You need about 3,517 cups a month, which works out to roughly 135 cups a day just to break even before any profit.
Should I include my own wage in the fixed costs?
If you draw a fixed salary from the café, yes — include it so the break-even reflects a business that can actually pay you. If you take only leftover profit, keep fixed costs to true fixed lines like rent, staff wages, insurance and software, and treat anything above break-even as what is available to pay yourself.